Sun Princess 2 night Brisbane-Sydney

[rkmw]

going by the princess site the rules have not been changed

[Kiwicruiser25]

Now you have let the 'cat out of the bag' so to speak hehe on this cruise, I will have to keep a close eye on the availability. I have booked the 2 airfares I need ouch!! and not the cruise yet!! was going to wait till closer to time, hmmm but may have to get a wriggle on and book it. If only could cruise at US prices, this will cost me A$439 Airfares plus A$632 inside solo not sure how much insurance on top of that. But only time I can go and it has to be Sun Princess.

 

Cheers

[johndon]

The information was passed on to me from the Future Cruise Office on the Ship.

It may be the opinion of the individual consultant but I would like to hear from Princess so as I will be satisfied in my own mind. The argument used when I questioned it with the consultant was it was not fair that someone could advance to Platinum after potentially only having done 12 days of cruising as compared with the alternative of 50 days cruising.

After our next cruise in March we will be put up to Platinum. This if after 4 cruises totally 51 days.

I reckon we will be looking at more cruises but at much shorter duration in future.

 

John

[Aus Traveller]

The information was passed on to me from the Future Cruise Office on the Ship.

It may be the opinion of the individual consultant but I would like to hear from Princess so as I will be satisfied in my own mind. The argument used when I questioned it with the consultant was it was not fair that someone could advance to Platinum after potentially only having done 12 days of cruising as compared with the alternative of 50 days cruising.

After our next cruise in March we will be put up to Platinum. This if after 4 cruises totally 51 days.

I reckon we will be looking at more cruises but at much shorter duration in future.

 

John

When I read the American forum I am amused that they think a 10 night cruise is 'long'. In my opinion a 28 night or more is 'long'.:)

 

We don't have access to many short cruises in this part of the world, but a couple have come up recently. When we went on our first Princess cruise (28 nights) I wished we had done a 2 nighter previously so we would have had the benefit of Elite perks.

 

A couple at our table at the Captain's lunch on a recent cruise had only done a three or four cruises but they were all very long ones including a round-the-world and a round-Pacific.

[The_Big_M]

The argument used when I questioned it with the consultant was it was not fair that someone could advance to Platinum after potentially only having done 12 days of cruising as compared with the alternative of 50 days cruising.

 

That's an extreme figure. There haven't been any one night cruises on Princess in this region (ever? - certainly for some time) so is a moot point. Even on the infrequent 2 night cruises, 12 of those come to 24, so it's only half the other rate. Plus it would still take some time to get to that level with them, since they aren't that common.

[newfarmers]

We're going on Sun in 2013 on the March 18 Fijian Jewels for my 50th with a group of friends.

 

Am now looking at this two nighter so that we can get the FCC or FCL or whatever it is to make booking March 2013 easier and also to have a sample of what Sun Princess offers.

 

going to wait until after Christmas before deciding. If there's cabins left at good prices we'll do it, otherwise we'll just have to wait until 2013.

 

pete

[Tikibird]

When I read the American forum I am amused that they think a 10 night cruise is 'long'. In my opinion a 28 night or more is 'long'.:)

 

We don't have access to many short cruises in this part of the world, but a couple have come up recently. When we went on our first Princess cruise (28 nights) I wished we had done a 2 nighter previously so we would have had the benefit of Elite perks.

 

A couple at our table at the Captain's lunch on a recent cruise had only done a three or four cruises but they were all very long ones including a round-the-world and a round-Pacific.

 

Most Americans only get one week paid leave a year so it would be difficult to do anything longer, especially when they have to figure in a day or so on each end to get to and from the port.

 

If I weren't only one cruise away from platinum, I wouldn't bother with a 2 nighter. Having the status will make a huge difference on a 12-14 night Mediterranean cruise. All I want to do is be able to check my emails and Facebook and shipboard internet is expensive and I don't want to waste port time chasing down internet cafes.

 

There are only 2 or 3 of these repo cruises a year so it would take a few years for someone to go from scratch to even platinum, let alone Elite. I'm not that fussed about Elite, we can get up early and do laundry as we are morning people.

 

I hadn't realized until reading another thread that the Aussie Princess ships don't have Anytime Dining. It's no biggie on this short cruise but would drive me nuts to have to stick to a dining schedule on a longer cruise with lots of port days. Looks like the Pacific and Ocean Princesses are the same out of ships doing European itineraries but the Crown and Ruby are good options, plus hopefully the Royal will be in Europe as well.

[Tikibird]

No' date=' it would be the Sun Princess, Brisbane to Sydney on 1st March 2012. We are booked on it.

 

The Dawn Princess one is in 3 weeks and that is Sydney to Melbourne on 12th December.... We are booked on that one too.

 

To the OP. We always buy some FFC letters onboard. As we book with OS TA's we get the US FFC letters for the US Princess ships. We also book with Aussie TA's sometimes and we get Aussie FFC letters. You can use them with any TA, you don't have to stick with the TA you booked the original cruise with.[/quote']

Are the FCCs different for Americans and Aussies? Since we are going to book a Mediterranean cruise should we get the American one?

[Aus Traveller]

Are the FCCs different for Americans and Aussies? Since we are going to book a Mediterranean cruise should we get the American one?

I believe they are now the same. :):) You can only buy them when you are on a Princess ship.

 

Re Dining - I am puzzled why the Princess ships operating out of Aust have traditional dining when the rest of the fleet has Any time. I could understand if they had one restaurant TD and one any time. When P&O changed over the Anytime, the CEO Ann Sherry announced that this is what Aussie want. Apparently the powers-that-be in Princess either haven't heard or don't agree.

[rugbypopsie]

If you book with a US t/a you get a US one..if you book with an aussie agent you get an OZ one. You are supposed to use the OZ ones for booking with OZ agents it is immaterial where the cruise is.

[Tikibird]

Although I haven't booked the cruise yet, I noticed Jetstar has a big sale, SYD-BNE $49 so already booked the flight back to Brisbane. We'll have enough time to take the ferry to Taronga Zoo and get back to the airport in time for the afternoon flight.

 

The price (USA) seems to be the same whether it's direct with Princess or an online TA but several airlines are offering frequent flyer miles if you book with them.

[Tikibird]

OK, officially booked and under deposit! As I posted on the main Princess forum, I went with Princess.com because the online TA which is offering frequent flier miles isn't returning emails or answering questions and there is no way to book online. Even Princess.com automatically adds a $20 visa charge so I had to call and explain that though I am an American, I am also an Australian (dual citizen) so don't need a visa for Australia.

 

I did call the afore-mentioned online TA, wasn't too impressed that he couldn't even find the cruise by ship name or date! I emailed and inquired about transferring my booking to them--easy--I did all the work--and he still couldn't be bothered to reply.